How can I help to bring about peace in the world?

08/03/07

sholom/salam :)

dear respected rabi, i'm confused and to be honest i need to talk to someone.

i am muslim, and before 9/11 i never eally knew much about my own religion let alone the jewish religion, and to be honest not too much has changed, i mean i have done research into islam, but i feel that i really want to know about the jewish religion too, i am not thinking of converting, i just want to talk to a real jewish person because i hear so many hateful things about what jews say against muslims and some horrible things about what muslims say to jews and i just don't understand it all. I mean why? from what i have read of the quran, it does not say anything about being against jewish people, in fact our books are so simular it's hard to see why they just don't get along.. the quran saya that the tohra came from the same god and that the quran has been sent down as a prediction that people would change the scripture of the tohra, but even seeing what little i have of the tohra it also doesn't preach hate, it preaches peace like the quran, so where do the differences fall into it?... i just don't understand thats all.
i'm now 27 years of age and i want to do something usefull with my life. i want to try and bring the next generation together, jews and muslims, i want to hold some kind of community event and one day i want it to go global beacuse we have to stop this madness. it's almost as though theres someone out there who knows how unstoppable the jewish people and the muslim people would be if united and wants to stop it. my question to you is, what are your thoughts.. is there any way for peace? i know that as long as we are here on earth it's not to late.

Dear Ahmad,

The problems of the world do not stem from the Torah and the Quran themselves, but from the way they are interpreted. I am not knowledgeable about the Quran, but I can tell you that we have received many letters from Muslims who say as you do: that there is nothing there about hating Jews or killing them. The Torah commands us to treat all people fairly; one may not cheat or steal from a non-Jew, let alone harm him. During the Jewish exile, which began with the destruction of the Temple in 69 CE and continues to this day, we are commanded to be at peace with the nations among whom we live, to seek their good and follow their laws. Torah-observant Jews always were, and remain, good and patriotic citizens in their various countries.

The problem is that there arose among non-observant Jews a movement called Zionism, which saw fighting back as the solution to the problem of European anti-Semitism. In order to broaden their movement, they dressed up their plans in a religious cloak, choosing Palestine as their land and citing the Torah as the source that this land should belong to the Jews. The Torah does indeed say that the land was given to the Jews in the time of Moses and Joshua. However, the Torah also predicts our exile from the land in Leviticus 26:33, Deuteronomy 4:27, 28:36, and 28:64; and in Deuteronomy 30:1-5 it states clearly that we will only come back to it when G-d brings us back. Religious Zionism is basically the Torah's promise of the Holy Land to the Jews misapplied to our time. The solution to the problems plaguing the world, as we see it, is to educate Jews about what the Torah really says, so that they relinquish their state and live peacefully in exile. We also want to reach non-Jews and keep them informed about the large number of Jews, not in the media spotlight, who oppose Zionism and the State of Israel.

thankyou for your reply,

it seems that my previous ideas were correct. You see i live in England, and tinking about it, had i not of stumbled upon your site in accident, i would never of known that there are Jewish people out there who are staying true to gods word. Your reply matches what the quran says, the quran also teaches us to be aware that the tohra has been sent down by the same god and that moses, abraham are prophets of god, I know for a fact that zionists are deliberatly engineering hatred between muslims and jews in general, the more of a response they get from the muslims, the more opportunity arrises to demonise them and colonise the middle east. although we are responsible for our own actions, the information that is given to us to lead us to those actions, we are not always responsible for.

The media lies firmly in the hands of the zionists and not real jewish followers. your religion has been hijacked, and i promise you, i will treat you and any true follower of the torah , as my brother. i will start by launching a jewish muslim forum, where both religions can discuss these issues, and get educated about each others religions. if i didn't know that jewish people do exist who remain true to the tohra, i'm sure that niether do muslims in other countries around the world. i ask for nothing from you, but to remain in touch, there is more i wish to know about jewish life, i can be sure that what i have been told by the media and various others is not accurate. It is not just the jewish religion or muslim religion that needs unity, the PEOPLE need to be united.